And his head was brought in a charger, and given to the damsel: and she brought [it] to her mother.
11. brought it to her mother ] The revenge of Herodias recalls the story of Fulvia, who treated with great indignity the head of her murdered enemy Cicero, piercing the tongue once so eloquent against her. Both are instances of “furens quid femina possit.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 11. His head was given to the damsel: and she brought it to her mother.] There is no person so revengeful as a lascivious woman when reproved and blamed. A preacher of the Gospel has most to fear from this quarter: – the first of this profession lost his life for the sake of truth and chastity; and others, especially those who have any thing to do with men in power who are profligates, may learn what they are to expect in return for a faithful discharge of their duty.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Ver. 11 And his head was brought in a charger,…. By the executioner that cut it off, to Herod, whilst he and his guests were at table; by which it should seem, that the prison was very near; and it is not improbable, that it was the castle of Macheerus that Herod made this entertainment in:
and given to the damsel; the daughter of Herodias, who, by her mother’s instigation, had asked it, and who received it out of the hands of Herod himself; or however, it was delivered to her by his orders:
and she brought it to her mother; who had put her upon it, than which, nothing could be a more agreeable dish to her; and who, as Jerome says c, because she could not bear truth, that tongue which spoke truth; she plucked out, and pierced it through and through with a needle, as Fulvia did Cicero’s: but this triumph over the faithful reprover of her, and Herod’s vices, did not last long; for quickly after this, they were stripped of their honours and riches, and deprived of the kingdom, and banished to Lyons in France, where they died d. A Jewish chronologer says e, Herod was driven out of the land by Tiberius, and fled to Spain, and died there.
c Adv. Ruffin. Tom. 2. fol. 82. K. d Joseph. Antiqu. l. 18. c. 8. e Ganz. Tzemach David, par. 1. fol. 25. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
She brought it to her mother ( ). A gruesome picture as Herodias with fiendish delight witnesses the triumph of her implacable hatred of John for daring to reprove her for her marriage with Herod Antipas. A woman scorned is a veritable demon, a literal she-devil when she wills to be. Kipling’s “female of the species” again. Legends actually picture Salome as in love with John, sensual lust, of which there is no proof.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
To the damsel [ ] . Diminutive, the little girl. Luther gives magdlein, little maid.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And his head was brought in a charger,” (kai -enechthe he kephale- autou epi pinakai) “And his (Johns) head was brought upon a platter,” from the prison to the palace, after his soul had returned to God, 2Co 5:6-8. What more ghastly gift may have been given to a mother by her daughter?
2) “And given to the damsel:” (kai edothe to korasio) And it was given to -the maid,” the daughter of Herodias, Mr 6:25-28. It was a gory, gruesome sight in a banquet hall, but it won’t be the last time these hell bent murderers of God’s prophet will see the sight with horror, Luk 16:25.
3) “And she brought it to her mother.” (kai enegken te metri autes) “And she (in turn) brought it to her mother,” who had incited her to entrap Herod to make the rash pledge, to give or grant her anything she requested, to the half of his kingdom, for the orchestrated dancing she performed before his birthday party guests, Mr 6:28. Such is the fruit of licentious lust, adultery, malice, drinking, dancing, and hate against God and holiness, Gal 5:17-21.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(11) She brought it to her mother.A glance at the after-history of those who were accomplices in the deed of blood will not be out of place. Shortly after the new society, for which John had prepared the way, had started upon its great career, when her brother, the young Agrippa, had obtained the title of king, through the favour of Caligula, Herodias, consistent in her ambition, stirred up her husband to seek the same honour. With this view she accompanied him to Rome; but they were followed by complaints from the oppressed Galileans, and the result was that he was deposed from his tetrarchy, and banished to Lugdunum (the modern Lyons) in Gaul. Thither she accompanied him, faithful to his fallen fortunes, in spite of overtures from her brother to return to Juda, and there they died (Jos. Ant. xviii. 7, 2). A tradition or legend relates that Salomes death was retributive in its outward form. She fell upon the ice, and in the fall her head was severed from the body. Josephus, however, simply records the fact that she married first her great-uncle Philip, the Tetrarch of Trachonitis, and afterwards her first cousin, Aristobulus (Ant. xviii. 5, 4).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. Brought it to her mother A dutiful present from a murderess daughter to a murderess mother! Herod Antipas and Herodias were, as we have already stated, subsequently banished by the Roman emperor to Lyons, in France, where they passed the remainder of their lives in disgrace. It does not appear that justice ever overtook Salome.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And his head was brought on a large dish, and given to the damsel, and she brought it to her mother.’
Then John’s head was placed on a large serving dish, and ceremoniously handed over to the waiting teenage slut, who took it in to her mother. So hardened were they both that this grisly behaviour seems not to have worried them a jot. There appears to have been no hesitation on Salome’s part.
The presenting of John’s head on a meat dish, coming as it does before the feeding of the five thousand, may well have been meant by Matthew to be seen as in direct contrast. The ungodly partake of the blood of the prophets (Mat 23:30). The righteous partake of the food of God, (and spiritually of the body and blood of Christ – Joh 6:53-57).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 14:11. And his head was brought in a charger The head of the prophet, whose rebukes had awed the king in his loosest moments, and whose exhortations had often excited him to virtuous actions, was immediately brought pale and bloody in a charger, and given to the daughter of Herodias, in presence of the guests; which proves that the prison in which they confined the Baptist was at hand, in Tiberias, where Herod kept his court, and not in Machoerus Castle, as the interpolater of Josephus affirms. Salome, forgetting the tenderness of her sex, and the dignity of her rank, with a steady cruelty, agreeable to her relation to so bad a woman, received the bloody present, and carried it to her mother; who enjoyed the whole pleasure of revenge, and feasted her eyes with the sight of her enemy’s head, now rendered silent and harmless. St. Jerome tells us, that Herodias treated the head in a very disdainful manner, pulling out the tongue, which she imagined had injured her, and piercing it with a needle: thus they gratified themselves in the indulgence of their lusts, and triumphed in the murder of this holy prophet, till the righteous judgment of God overtook them all: for Providence interested itself very remarkably in the revenge of this murder on all concerned; as Herod’s army was defeated in a war, occasioned by marrying Herodias (see the last note); and both he and Herodias, whose ambition occasioned his ruin, were afterwards driven from their kingdom, and died in banishment at Lyons in Gaul; and if any credit may be given to Nicephorus, Salome,whowasafterwardsinfamousforalife suitable to this beginning,fell into the ice, as she was walking over it, which, closing suddenly, cut off her head. See Whitby, Doddridge, and Univ. History, vol. 10: p. 632. 8vo.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
11 And his head was brought in a charger, and given to the damsel: and she brought it to her mother.
Ver. 11. And his head was brought, &c. ] This was merces mundi, the world’s wages to John for all his pains in seeking to save their souls. Surely as Caesar once said of Herod the Great (this man’s father), it were better to be Herod’s swine than his son; so (saith one) many ministers have, through the corruption of the time, cause to think, it were better to be Herod’s minstrel than minister, player than preacher, dancer than doctor.
And given to the damsel ] The Romans condemned it for a detestable cruelty in Quintus Flaminius, that to gratify his harlot Placentina he beheaded a certain prisoner in her presence at a feast. This Livy calleth facinus saevum atque atrox, a cursed and horrid act: and Cato the censor cast him out of the senate for it. Neither was it long ere this tyrant Herod had his payment from heaven. For Aretas, king of Arabia (offended with him for putting away his daughter, and taking to wife Herodias), came upon him with an army, and cut off all his forces. Which loss all men interpreted, saith Josephus, xviii. 7, as a just vengeance of God upon him, for his unjust usage of the Baptist. And within a while after, being accused at Rome by his brother Agrippa, and convicted that he had 70,000 arms in readiness against the emperor, he was banished into France (as is above said) together with his Herodias, where he became his own deathsman.
And she brought it to her mother ] As a most welcome present, and pleasant dish at this Thyestean supper. Whether it was carried about the table for a merry sight (as Aretius thinks), or whether she pricked his tongue with needles, as Josephus saith (as they did Cicero’s, setting up his head in the pleading place, ubi iis concionibus multorum capita servarat, as Seneca hath it), I have nothing to affirm. But we want not examples of some tigers and tigresses, that have taken pleasure in such unrighteousness; witness Hannibal’s O formosum spectaculum! O goodly bloody sight! when he saw a pit full of man’s blood; Valesas, his O rem regiam, when he had slain 300; Stokesly, his glorying on his death bed, that he had been the death of 50 herewigs, heretics he meant; Story, his vaunting that he tossed a faggot at Denly the martyr’s face, as he was singing a psalm, and set a wine bush of thorns under his feet, a little to prick him, &c. This he spake in the parliament in Queen Elizabeth’s days, whom he usually cursed in his grace before meat, and was therefore worthily hanged, drawn, and quartered. Whereunto we may add that queen (another Herodias) who, when she saw some of her Protestant subjects lying dead and stripped upon the earth, cried out, The goodliest tapestry that she ever beheld.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Mat 14:11 . , not expressly said “there and then,” but all points to immediate production of the head on a platter in the banqueting hall before the guests; gruesome sight! , : what a nerve the girl must have had! her mother’s nature in her; the dancing and the cool acceptance of the horrible gift well matched. : not to be taken strictly; a young unmarried woman, say, of twenty (Holtz., H. C.). The dancing of a mere girl would have been no entertainment to the sensual revellers. The treat lay in the indecency.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
damsel. Greek. korasion. App-108.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Mat 14:11. , to her mother) who without doubt treated it cruelly.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
and given: Gen 49:7, Pro 27:4, Pro 29:10, Jer 22:17, Eze 16:3, Eze 16:4, Eze 19:2, Eze 19:3, Eze 35:6, Rev 16:6, Rev 17:6
Reciprocal: Num 7:13 – charger 2Sa 4:7 – took his head 1Ch 10:9 – took Mar 6:27 – the king
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
4:11
The head of John the Baptist was placed in a dish and brought to the damsel. The head of that forerunner of Christ, the one who had been foretold by the prophets, the man whose preaching aroused the multitudes of all Judea, was severed from his body because he dared to rebuke a lustful man and woman for their wickedness. Of course the damsel was true to the orders of her mother and delivered this reward of her own immoral actions to the vicious woman waiting for it.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 14:11. She brought it to her mother. A Jezebel was not wanting in the history of the second Elijah. The vindictive adulteress was served by the immodest dancer; the sixth and seventh commandment stand next each other.